Steps of the Shamanic Journey

As described by the Medicine Wheel

I call the work contemporary shamanism because whilst it is based on the teaching of the ancient shamans – the “wise ones” and visionaries of the old cultures – it is nevertheless modern in approach and deals with the issues and difficulties of contemporary life. Shamanism has always been a non-dogmatic, adaptable set of philosophies, attitudes and pragmatic solutions as it has always responded to the needs of the people of the time.

This is the essential
difference from religion. While religions place themselves and their
prophets or saviours between the people and the divine, shamanism
does nothing of the kind. It is a path to knowledge, which is gained
through experience of life, through rituals, ceremonies, prayer and
meditation, trials and tests. Knowledge is something taken on from
outside, from others. War may be fought over beliefs, never over
knowledge.

The word Shaman, or
saman comes from language of the Tungus reindeer herders of the
Lake Baikal region of Russia. The shaman is a visionary, a prophet,
healer, psychotherapist, ceremonialist, and often herbal doctor- a
“Doctor of the health – “The Spirit” – of the people.
The shaman is tasked with keeping the vision alive of who they are
and where they are going. Consider for a moment just how many people
in our culture are dispirited. That’s Dis- Spirited, disconnected
from spirit.

THE MEDICINE WHEEL IS
THE BASIS ……..

The work of Eagle’s
Wing is to assist seekers to come to a place of balance and harmony
within themselves, balancing the Four Directions of physical,
emotional, mental and spiritual, as so beautifully described
and defined by the Medicine Wheel. The Medicine Wheel is the basis of
the teaching, and it serves as a framework through which to ‘see’ the
world, and the actions and interactions of people and the cosmos. We
work with ceremonies about facing the Four.Directions of ourselves,
and balancing the dark and light within. I work with many techniques
from psychotherapy, where appropriate, as it is essential to start
with the trials and traumas of the emotional body.

ERASING PERSONAL
HISTORY

The first step on the
shamanic journey od life is called “Erasing Personal History”.
This is the South direction on the Medicine wheel, and it means
dealing with the emotional stuff of the past. This is the painful
bit. There is no way to avoid this step, and it must be done first or
a person will not be able to handle the powers of the other
directions. The enemy is fear, and the ally trust, and we have to do
battle within ourselves.

MAKING DEATH YOUR ALLY

The West symbolises the
chaos, the depth of incarnation, the physical realm, and the earth.
It is about the enemy of old age and inertia (being “old”
before your time) , and the quality of introspection and the
development of intuition which comes as we dare to look deeply
within,

The movement here is
called ” facing your death and making death your ally”. it
is ultimately about daring to live fearlessly. To quote Inca Shaman
don Eduardo Calderon with whom I travelled in Peru in 1986, “a
shaman is someone who is already dead and thus has no fear of death
or life” . Sometimes a life-threatening crisis is what calls a
person to the way of the shaman.

We do a lot of work
with dance, where possible with live drummers, to take people deeply
into themselves and into the passionate, heartful open , vulnerable
place that we can experience though truly feeling the primal beat of
the drum,

STOPPING THE WORLD

The North of the wheel
represents the mental realm of thought and philosophy, and the enemy
here is usually called “clarity”. I found a lot of people
got confused by this, so i have taken to calling it “bullshit”
as there is no confusion then! The ally is “wisdom and
knowledge” and we are all capable of knowing the difference and
recognising when we are listening to one or the other.

The mind and its
continuous inner dialogue, so that one can see= perceive – the world
as the multitude of energies that it really is, without the overlay
of projections and assumptions that we normally make .

SEEKING VISION AND
PURPOSE

The fourth direction,
the East , is about ” seeking vision and purpose” and this
is the time to go quietly up the mountain, physical or metaphorical,
and spend time alone meditating, praying and listening. The inner
battle here is between illumination and the gaining of power which
results from that, and the difficulty of handling that power rightly.

Through the work of
Eagle’s Wing I seek to share the knowledge that I have picked up in
my journey over the last 35 years as I have been lucky enough to
travel and meet medicine people, go through many experiences which
have helped me transform my life, a process which goes on and on
…..

The Eagle’s Wing Centre
for Contemporary Shamanism was founded by Leo Rutherford in 1987 with
the aim of helping people to connect to the inner and outer worlds,
to heal the old wounds within, to become able to bring dreams from
the world of spirit into matter and thus enjoy a creative and
fruitful life. ( to dance their dreams awake!!)

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Shamanic Maps of How the Universe Works.
The View through the Medicine Wheel is a magnificent reflection on how to live creative, healthy and happy lives. We are all on a great journey -but how different life would be if you had a good map?

By Leo Rutherford.
Based on Shamanic principles and the philosophy that laughter and play are basic human needs that feed the soul and unleash natural creativity, the tried, tested and proven activities in this book can be used with all ages.

For all who seek truth beyond church/bible dogma….
A stark expose of the problems we humans have brought upon ourselves with the adoption of the Abrahamic male-monotheist separate ‘God’ and the abandonment of the more ancient and balanced animist/shamanist holistic knowledge.